A is for Apolline
by Wldwmn
Summary: Birthday story for PetitJ. Future fic. Life might be different for Jane and Lisbon now that they're married and expecting… but some things don't change. Mostly baby names and good-natured arguing. Warnings: Fluffy nonsense, shameless shipping (now canon!), no real plot. Rated K .


**Disclaimer: I do not own "The Mentalist", nor do I profit in any way from fanfiction.**

**Summary: Birthday story for PetitJ. Future fic. Life might be different for Jane and Lisbon now that they're married and expecting… but some things don't change. Mostly baby names and good-natured arguing. Warnings: Fluffy nonsense, shameless shipping (now canon!), no real plot. Rated K+.**

**A/N: Post 'Blue Bird', I haven't felt the same kind of **_**need**_** to write about these two as perhaps I once did. Does that make sense? In any case, inspiration particles do still come once in a while, and I wanted to use this one as a gift. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETITJ!**

**A is for Apolline**

_(Patrick was going to keep stalling about names, of course. Not because he had any problem with the situation, she knew, but just because he always liked making things challenging. She loved that about him in a way… and hated it too, of course.)_

"We should just start at the beginning and run through the alphabet," Lisbon said with a sigh. "A systematic approach, right? Randomly firing off names is getting us nowhere."

Jane grinned. "You're probably right. Although I still can't understand your objection to Margorilla," he replied with a wink.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Really? You can't?" she said flatly.

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "All right, dear, I'll be serious. We each get to suggest one name per letter, and see where it leads us okay?"

"Agreed," she said. "You go first, for A."

_(They loved each too much to delay marrying for very long. And when Teresa made a pointed remark about babies and not getting younger… well, hardly a chore to do his part, was it? More of a joy, truly, though he couldn't say the same about choosing a name for what turned out to be their little daughter-on-the-way. __**That**__ was getting complicated.)_

"I always liked Apolline," said Jane after a moment. "I know it's a bit esoteric but…" he trailed off. "What? It's French!"

Lisbon frowned. "Forget it. I'm not naming my daughter anything I can't spell without thinking hard. Plus - it sounds too much like Apple, and unlike flaky celebrities I don't name my kids after fruit! How about Amber?"

"Nope," he said. "Definitely not. Although I don't mind precious stone names for girls, Amber seems to be a little too common these days. We don't want her to be one of four Ambers in her kindergarten class, do we?"

"Okay," she agreed, shrugging slightly. "B… what's a B name… Barbara?"

He shook his head. "Never cared much for that one. I mean it's okay, but not really one I'd choose. What do you think about Belinda?"

"No. Not a fan. What kind of nickname can you get out of that, Belly? No."

"So I have to figure in nicknames in as well?" he asked, a whine creeping into his voice.

Lisbon gestured impatiently. "Of course you do, as well as any ways that other kids could turn the name into a taunt."

"This is going to be tougher than I thought!"

"Yeah well, keep going. How about C?"

_(Perhaps she hadn't figured on Patrick getting her pregnant __**quite**__ so promptly, but her mother always said that some people were just naturally more compatible when it came to having children. They'd run dozens of tests, of course; being over 40 made this a high-risk pregnancy. She was very happy to find out the baby was a girl. Three younger brothers had worn off the novelty of boy babies just a little for her.)_

Neither of them could find any they agreed on for C, D, E, F, or G. Lisbon had suggested Esmerelda, and absently stroked the striking emerald engagement ring she wore, but Jane shook his head again. "Too much for a baby," he argued, possibly only because he was still miffed that she'd dismissed Deirdre out of hand.

"Ugh, I'm getting exhausted and we're only on H!" Lisbon griped. "What about Hannah?"

"Hmm," Jane said, considering carefully. "Hannah isn't bad. Biblical, and familiar without being extremely common… maybe we could short-list it?"

She let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere! What's your suggestion for H?"

He paused for a moment, more for effect than uncertainty. She could tell.

_(It was wonderful and terrible how good Teresa was getting at seeing through him. When before a little smoke and mirrors were often all it took, now if he wanted to deceive her he had to really work at it. And he didn't want to. After over a decade of secrets and masks, how comforting it was for him to finally relax. Sometimes still scary, a little. Unsettling. A weight had been lifted that he had almost forgotten what it was like __**not **__to carry.)_

"Hope," he said finally. "Something that we've had to trust to an awful lot over the years, I'd say."

Tears gathered in Lisbon's eyes, but she blinked them away. "That's very true. And Hope is a lovely name."

Jane took her hand and squeezed gently. "How about Hope as a middle name, then? And we'll keep trying for the first name."

"Deal."

_(Patrick was obviously getting tired of this exercise. It didn't help matters that she was finding the end of the alphabet particularly difficult, and could only really think of more Biblical names.)_

"I always liked the sound of Yael," admitted Lisbon, "But it means goat or ibex, which I don't care for."

"Pass," agreed Jane, pacing back and forth in front of her. "I assume you have one for Z as well, since you already nixed Zoe last week."

"Of course!" she replied. "Zipporah."

"Zipporah? Who on Earth is that?" he spluttered.

"She was Moses' wife! Your Old Testament knowledge is not as good as you think it is." Lisbon said with a snort.

He gave her a long look. "And you really think that's better than Zoe?"

"I didn't say it was better than Zoe, I said my god-sister's name is Zoe and I don't like repeating names!" she argued.

He sighed. "So essentially we've gone through the entire alphabet, reached the end, and all we can 100% agree on is that Hope would be a good middle name."

_(They'd dismissed Hannah for being too close to Annabeth, Lisbon's niece.)_

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "I suppose we could start over again at A…"

"Ugh. Be my guest." Jane said, and flopped down on the couch next to her.

She stroked over her round stomach, and then smiled. "How about Abigail? I think Abby is such a cute nickname, and not too heavy for a child. And if we're talking about name **meanings**-"

"I know. Abigail means 'a father's joy'. Which our baby certainly will be." Jane appeared to weigh the pros and cons, but the twinkle in his eyes let her know his decision immediately. "Abby Hope. I think I like it."

"So do I," said Lisbon. She gently nudged him in the side; he took the hint and put his arm around her, and she snuggled close with a contented sigh.

_(The sun was setting. The future may still have stretched before them in an uncertain manner, as it always had; full of twists and turns they couldn't yet see. But now that they had each other, neither of them was very worried anymore. After all, birds that perch in trees do not fear that the branches may break. They do not need to trust the branches… because they trust their wings.)_

**The End**


End file.
